Outskirts Press, INC.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - BRASWELL D. DEEN, JR.
By Andy Osterdahl and Sanders Deen.

Braswell Drue Deen, Jr., is one of five children of the late U.S. Congressman Braswell Drue Deen, Sr., and Corinne Smith Deen. Born on August 16, 1925, in McRae, Georgia, Braswell grew up during the Great Depression and quickly learned the lesson to, “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” because, like many families, money was hard to come by. As attributed in part to American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson that an apple never falls far from the tree, such sentiment was never truer than when comparing the similarities between Braswell Senior and Junior. The Senior Braswell Deen worked his way through college selling Bibles and chopping firewood, eventually earning a degree in Philosophy from Emory University. The Senior Braswell Deen held many jobs including President of the South Georgia Methodist College, farmer, newspaper owner and editor, insurance salesman, real estate developer, and was involved in many community projects and service such as forming a local bank, teaching Sunday School at the Alma Methodist Church, elected as County School Superintendent, elected to the U.S. Congress from 1933 until 1939, and later appointed as State Director for the Georgia Department of Public Welfare. After suffering from a heart attack in 1939, the elder Deen along with Braswell Junior, who was 14 years of age, rode bicycles 70 miles from Alma, Georgia to Brunswick, Georgia to show the community that the heart of Braswell D. Deen, Sr., was strong and courageous, not to mention that of the younger Braswell Deen. Braswell Junior’s early education included attendance at school in Alma and Brunswick, Georgia, in addition to the Capitol Page School in Washington D.C. While in Washington, he also served as a congressional page. After graduating from high school in Alma, Georgia, Braswell traveled to Kingsport, Tennessee to fulfill his dream of trying out for a class D minor league baseball team which resulted in a strikeout (pun intended). As World War II engulfed the globe but before coming of age so as to enlist, Braswell worked in Brunswick, Georgia as a roofer, and then as an outside machinist building Liberty ships that carried wartime equipment and supplies. On October 20, 1943, Braswell, at the age of 18, joined the United States Marine Corps and was assigned to the 2nd Platoon, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division. Additionally, Deen served with the 3rd Platoon, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division, during the invasion of Okinawa.

Braswell was stationed in the Pacific Theater and took part in the initial invasions of both Peleliu and Okinawa Islands. He was wounded by a Japanese knee mortar, and later was a recipient of the Purple Heart. Following his injuries sustained during the battle of Okinawa, Braswell recuperated in hospitals located in Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii, San Diego, California and his fifth admission was at a hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. While on medical leave, the Imperial Japanese Army surrendered on August 15, 1945; the day before Braswell’s 20th birthday. Three months later, on November 29, 1945, Braswell received an Honorable Discharge at the Marine barracks on Parris Island, South Carolina. Braswell earned a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1950 from the University of Georgia, and then formed the law firm of Deen and Powell in Alma, Georgia; later becoming Deen and Jacques. Braswell made his first jump into politics winning election as Bacon County’s representative to the Georgia General Assembly. He would serve a total of four terms in that body from 1951-1952, 1953-1954, 1957-1958, and 1959-1960. Braswell left a lasting mark in the legislature when authoring the Georgia Women’s Juror Bill that extended the rights of women by allowing their service on juries which also doubled the number of citizens available for jury duty. In addition to his terms in the legislature, Braswell served as Bacon County Attorney for a period of ten years, and in 1955 was named by the Georgia Jaycees as one of its “Five Outstanding Young Men in Georgia.” Braswell also was a recipient of the Kotz Bennett Cup for Outstanding Citizen of the Year along with receiving a Citation of Merit from the Georgia Gerontology Society. In June 1953, Braswell married Jean Strickland Buie (1925– 2000). The couple were wed for nearly fifty years and had two sons; Braswell Drue Deen, III, and Sanders Buie Deen. In 1965, Governor Carl E. Sanders appointed Braswell as Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals in filling out the term of the late Judge Robert Lee Russell, Jr. One year later, Braswell was elected to a full term of his own on that court, and from 1974 – 1980 served as its Presiding Judge. During the years 1979 – 1981, Braswell was the court’s Chief Judge, and in 1981 he returned to the position of Presiding Judge which he held until retirement on December 7, 1990. Following retirement from the bench and having authored over 14,000 judicial opinions, Braswell continued work as a mediator and arbitrator along with teaching as an adjunct professor on Constitutional Law, chess, and Origins of Man at Emory and Oglethorpe Universities. Braswell also lectured to social and community groups on a wide range of topics (including the origins of man, evolution vs creation, biology, criminal justice and the Second World War). Besides a lifelong love of baseball, volleyball and golf, Braswell’s personal hobbies include art history, dancing and chess. Of note, his skill in chess tournaments eventually reached Master Class status. Braswell also has written other books including Deen’s List: ABC’s on ADR, A Handbook On Alternative Dispute Resolution (1995), Trial By Combat (2000), Roots and Origins (2001), and Retired Judge Deen’s Views on National and Political Issues (2016) which are listed on his website. Braswell’s colorful writing style was noticed by Life Magazine in the Voices of America section of the 1981 Year in Pictures edition wherein he was quoted as saying “This monkey mythology of Darwin is the cause of permissiveness, promiscuity, pills, prophylactics, perversions, pregnancies, abortions, pornotherapy, polluting, poisoning and proliferation of crimes of all types.”

On December 24, 2020, Braswell was called home to Heaven just twelve days after completion of his memoir.